


A Student/Mentor Relationship of Sorts

by Settiai



Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: A Paragon of Their Kind, Alcohol, Dreams, F/M, One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:42:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27481408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Settiai/pseuds/Settiai
Summary: Look, Cadash didn't actuallyaskfor any of this shit to happen to her. It just sorta... happened. So she's making the best of it in whatever way she can.
Relationships: Female Cadash/Solas (Dragon Age)
Comments: 6
Kudos: 13
Collections: 2020 A Paragon of Their Kind Dragon Age Dwarf Exchange





	A Student/Mentor Relationship of Sorts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sneaky-Apostate (Sneaky_Apostate)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sneaky_Apostate/gifts).



"Dwarves aren't meant to dream," Cadash said firmly as she plopped down beside Solas at the table he was sitting at and all but dropped a tankard full of ale in front of him. "Now take this damn drink as a bribe and tell me that I won't have to deal with any of that Fade bullshit again."

If Solas actually had hair, his eyebrows would have been disappearing into it by that point. He reached out and took the mug, giving it a somewhat questionable look before pulling it closer to him. "Do you want me to simply agree with you, or would you prefer the truth?"

Cadash shot him a look that had stopped lesser men in their tracks. _Cullen_ had even backed away from her the last time she'd aimed that particular glare at him, and he was military commander of the entire Inquisition.

Solas had the gall to look more amused than anything. It was a good thing that she liked him.

"Has anyone ever told you that you're a bit of an asshole?" Cadash grumbled, taking a big swig from her own mug.

Solas gave her small nod, the corners of his mouth twitching. "Many people, Inquisitor," he said. "Quite frequently, actually."

Then he took a sip of the drink she'd shoved at him.

It was kind of impressive that he didn't immediately spit it back out again. Cadash had the first time she'd tasted the mabari piss that the Fereldens dared to call ale. Instead, he simply grimaced and swallowed, kind of like he did whenever she saw him sipping tea.

Cadash grinned into her mug.

"Please tell me you didn't actually pay coin for this swill," Solas said, wrinkling his nose. "Also, this isn't my idea of a proper bribe."

She shrugged. "I'm the Inquisitor," she shot back. "I don't pay coin for anything. Josie handles all that. Now drink your free ale."

Solas sighed and, without a word, took another sip of the ale. If anything, his grimace was even more pronounced the second time.

Cadash had to give it to him – she hadn't actually expected him to continue drinking it once he realized just what she'd given him.

"I'm impressed," Cadash said, not even trying to hide her amusement. "I never took you as the ‘waste not, want not' type."

Then she made a show of taking another long swallow of her own very-much-not-mabari-piss drink. Hey, being the person in charge had its perks.

Cadash suspected that the glare he was shooting her was supposed to be threatening. Maybe she was just used to him, though, because she honestly thought it came across more adorable than anything. It was almost like he actually thought she cared that someone was irritated at her.

He had to know her better than _that_ by now.

"So," she said, putting down her mug on the table and clapping her hands together. "Dreaming. Dwarves. The Fade. This—" she held up her glowing hand or, more precisely, her glove-covered hand that was probably still glowing but the leather was doing a good job of hiding it, "—lovely mark. Ringing any bells?"

Solas made a show of putting his mug down on the table in front of him and then resting his elbows on either side so that he could steeple his hands together. "How can I help you, Inquisitor?"

Cadash rolled her eyes. "You _do_ realize that you look like some type of power-mad villain when you do that?" she asked. "Are you sure that you want to give Varric that kind of ammunition?"

Something flickered across Solas's face for a moment, an emotion of some type that she couldn't quite interpret. Then he pointedly pulled his hands apart and leaned back, sitting up a little straighter than he had been.

"Better," Cadash said with a nod. "Am I going to keep having dreams? Because dwarves aren't meant to have those, and I'd rather not."

Solas frowned. "I'm not an expert on—"

"Solas, we've known each other for months," Cadash cut in. "Cut the crap. We both know you're the closest thing the Inquisition has to an expert when it comes to this bullshit. Am I going to keep having dreams, yes or no?"

The look he shot her was unreadable, and he stared for a long moment before nodding. "Quite possibly," he said. "The anchor is clearly tied to the Fade in some way. As long as it remains a part of you, there's a chance you'll continue to dream. From time to time, at least."

Cadash stared at him for a long moment before turning her gaze towards the green glow that was slipping out from under the glove she was wearing. "Great," she muttered, reaching for her mug again. "Just great."

The corners of Solas's mouth twitched again, and there wasn't a doubt in her mind that he was laughing at her. For someone that everyone claimed was all secretive and mysterious, his face was an open book sometimes. No wonder he refused to play Wicked Grace every time Varric tried to invite him.

"Any suggestions, oh great and powerful expert on weird dream shit?" Cadash asked. "Any ways to stop it? To control it? Something?"

Solas's face shifted into a more thoughtful look, like he was rolling her question over in his mind and trying to come up with an answer. He brought the mug he was holding up to his mouth almost distractedly, grimacing as he took another sip and turning his gaze towards the mug long enough to glare at it. Then he looked back at her.

"I cannot make any promises," he said slowly, "but I might be able to help. If you're willing to be patient and keep an open mind."

Cadash snorted. "You don't have to sound so skeptical," she said. "I can be patient if I want to."

The look that he shot her didn't exactly make him come across as any less skeptical.

"Don't give me that look," Cadash said, sticking her tongue out at him in what she considered a very ladylike, leader-ly manner. "I can."

"Of course, Inquisitor," Solas said, a slight lilt at the end that made it sound almost like a question rather than a statement.

*

"Why did I agree to this bullshit?" Cadash muttered, throwing herself back onto her bed and pointedly staring up at the ceiling.

Somewhere off to the left, Solas chuckled. "I believe your exact words were—"

"It was a rhetorical question," Cadash shot at him, glancing over to the side and glaring in his general direction.

Solas stepped up beside her bed, looking down at her with an amused look on his face. "I did tell you that the process would require some patience," he pointed out with no small amount of smugness in his voice.

"I hate you," Cadash grumbled.

He simply nodded at her. "Of course, Inquisitor."

She rolled her eyes. "Don't call me that in my own quarters," she said. "Call me Malika. Or Cadash. Or _anything_ other than Inquisitor."

Amusement flashed in his eyes, and Cadash realized her mistake almost immediately. "Of course, Herald," Solas said. "My mistake."

"You're such as a smartass sometimes," Cadash said, rolling her eyes. She pushed herself up into a sitting position, pulling her legs up under her so that she was sitting cross legged on the bed. "Now sit down and stop towering over me already."

Solas went surprisingly still at that, his eyes flickering down towards her. "I'm afraid that wouldn't be appropriate, In—"

"Call me Inquisitor in my own quarters one more time, and I swear that I'll stab you," Cadash cut in, making sure to use the tone of voice that made it clear that she was Done with a capital "D." Anyone who had ever fought bears in the Hinterlands with her couldn't possibly _not_ recognize that tone and know exactly what it meant.

"—Cadash," Solas continued with barely even a stutter. Good man. He at least could tell when she'd reached the end of her rope and _really_ didn't need to be trifled with.

Well, mostly.

"Solas," Cadash said, putting on the overly polite voice that anyone who knew her well should know meant things were about to go badly for them. "You're approximately twenty feet taller than me even when I'm standing up, and I'm not standing up right now. Will you sit down on the bed already before I get a crick in my neck and blame you?"

It wasn't _fair_ that he could still look so amused when she was pulling out her Done With This Shit voice. She got no respect. None.

Still, he sat down. She was counting that as a win.

"Now was that so hard?" Cadash asked, rolling her eyes. Then she flopped backwards so that her back was resting against the bed again and her gaze turned upwards towards the ceiling.

Solas sighed.

Cadash's mouth turned upwards, and she didn't even try to hide her grin. It faded more quickly than she would have liked, though, turning into a frown again.

"Seriously, I suck at this," she said, pointedly not looking towards Solas. It was easier if she didn't have to see his face. "We've been having these lessons for weeks, and I still can barely control the dreams at all. Half the time I don't even realize it's a dream at first, which is still _really fucking weird_ , let me point that out." 

She trailed off, keeping her gaze focused on the ceiling. What was that dark spot up there? Was it just a stain, or was it a bug? Or maybe it was—

"Inquisitor—"

"My threat of stabbing you is still in place."

Solas sighed, but even without looking at him she could hear the amusement in his voice. "My apologies, _Cadash_ ," he said, a hint of teasing mockery in his voice as he corrected himself. "You do realize that you are doing surprisingly well, do you not?"

Cadash snorted. "You've gotten better at lying," she said. "I almost believed you that time."

It was kind of impressive that she could almost hear him rolling his eyes at her.

And then there was silence. Which was a little surprising, considering Solas usually wasn't the type to let her win their usual verbal sparring matches without at least trying to come up with a rebuttal. Cadash was just about to sit up when Solas's face appeared above her as he leaned over into her view.

Cadash blinked. Then, just to be on the safe side, she blinked again.

"For once, I'm not lying," Solas said, and there was something in his voice just then that she couldn't quite make out. She wasn't sure she even wanted to. "You're doing surprisingly well, especially for a child of the Stone. I wouldn't expect even a mage to be making progress this quickly, which makes it all the more impressive considering how unfamiliar you are with the Fade."

He looked surprisingly serious. He _sounded_ surprisingly serious. Cadash wasn't quite certain what to make of that. She almost believed him.

Of course, she was still pretty sure there was an insult or three buried under that compliment, but hey. A compliment was a compliment, and Solas wasn't exactly the type to just pass those out freely.

"Oh," she said quietly. "Really?"

She could practically feel her cheeks flushing red at the praise that he so rarely gave out.

"I think you know me well enough to be aware that I don't give out idle praise," Solas said, and despite the serious tone in his voice there was clearly a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

He leaned closer to her, and Cadash was struck by the sudden thought that all he had to do was lean just a tiny bit closer and she could probably kiss him. And the moment that thought crossed her mind, she knew without a shadow of a doubt that her face was probably the same shade as the red lyrium that they'd been seeing everywhere.

That odd expression that she couldn't interpret flashed across his face again, there and gone so quickly that she didn't have time to realize study it. She could feel his breath against her face, brushing slightly against the handful of loose hairs that had escaped her usual braid. If she didn't know any better, she'd swear that his face was just a little flushed too, a hint of color on his cheeks that seemed to fit him better than she ever would have expected.

And then, just like that, he pulled away.

"Get some rest, Inquisitor," he said, his voice suddenly brisk and business-like as if the last few minutes had never happened. "Dreaming can be tiring."

Cadash opened her mouth. Then she closed it, her brow furrowing as she tried to figure out exactly what had just happened. In those handful of seconds, Solas managed to make his way to the door and disappear through it as if he'd never been there.

A distant part of her couldn't help but enjoy the view of him from behind just before he hurried through the door. It was surprisingly attractive, for an elf at least. Her tastes didn't usually lean towards tall and skinny, but he made it work.

The dark spot she'd noticed on the ceiling earlier moved. Definitely a bug then.

Also, since when did the word "attractive" come to mind when she thought of Solas?

"Well, fuck," Cadash muttered, glaring up at the insect on her ceiling like it was the cause of all her worries. "That complicates things."

*

Solas was still unconscious, there was no sign whatsoever of Bull and Dorian, and Cadash was starting to think that that she might possibly be in trouble. Well, they might be in trouble. But Solas wasn't exactly awake to join her in her panicking, so he really didn't count just then.

She pointedly tried not to think about the fact that half of her worries was _because_ he hadn't woken up yet, despite it being at least a good two hours since they'd been taken captive. It was fine. He was fine. If she kept telling herself that, then maybe she'd actually believe it at some point.

It was honestly a little embarrassing. They hadn't been captured by Red Templars or Venatori. Not even proper mercenaries or bandits, like the ones in Crestwood or the Hinterlands. No, they'd been caught off guard by a rag-tag group of former templars turned whatever-the-fuck-they-were-playing at, and now Solas was running around in the Fade, and Dorian had went over the side of an embankment that was steep enough that it was probably closer to being a cliff, and Bull had gone diving off after him, and... and...

"You're think too loudly."

Cadash was about to snap back exactly where Solas could shove his smartass commentary when her brain caught up with her mouth and she realized just what she'd heard.

"Oh, thank fuck," Cadash said, not even trying to hide her relief. "I was starting to think you were never going to stop playing around with spirits in the Fade and rejoin me here in the land of the living."

Solas shot her a glare that was lessened quite a bit by the fact that she could tell just by glancing at him that his vision was probably swimming pretty impressively just then.

Cadash frowned as she felt some of the immediately relief she'd felt start to fade. "Just how bad _is_ your vision right now?"

"I've had worse," Solas said, and while it wasn't the worst non-answer he'd ever given her it was certainly up there.

She rolled her eyes. "Let me rephrase that," she said pointedly. "Can you see good enough to walk a straight line?"

The fact that he didn't immediately answer spoke volumes.

"Okay, this is fine," Cadash said, careful to keep her voice down. Their captors had stuck them in a small side cavern in the cave system they were bunkering down in, and she didn't think anyone was close enough to overhear them, but better safe than sorry and all that. "First things first, let's get out of these ropes now that you're awake."

Solas blinked at that, his gaze moving downward, and oh did it say a lot that he apparently hadn't even noticed that he was tied up until just then. He certainly wasn't going to be any help until he got some proper healing magic into him, and considering fixing things like broken heads wasn't exactly Dorian's forte even if he and Bull managed to find them...

... it was fine. Everything was fine. She'd had worse. Probably. At least there wasn't any dragons around. That was a plus, right?

"Unless the men who captured us were foolish enough to leave your daggers on you, I'm not certain how you plan on getting us out of these ropes," Solas said from beside her, a tiny hint of a slur to his words the only sign that he was probably concussed to the Void and back.

"I'm hurt that you have so little faith in me," Cadash shot back. "Hurt, I tell you." Then she paused for a second. "Also, I'm pretty sure at least a few of them weren't men. Not that I stopped and asked them or anything."

Solas snorted, and if she hadn't already figured out that he wasn't quite his usual self just then that would have been a dead giveaway. She knew that he was just as mortal as the rest of them, but he usually tried a lot harder to hide it.

Cadash shot him a grin that she suspected didn't quite meet her eyes, but she hoped his vision was blurry enough that he wouldn't pick up on that. Then she took a deep breath and slowly started twisting her body so that she could slip her tied-up hands up under her shirt.

He blinked, something akin to confusion appearing on his face. "What are you doing?"

"Shush," Cadash said. "Watch and learn."

It took longer than it should have, a clear sign that she was out of practice, but she was eventually able to get a grip on the spare dagger that she kept hidden there. Really, it was embarrassing just how bad of a job the assholes who'd captured them had done at searching her. They'd left _five_ daggers on her. Five! One or two she could understand, because she liked to think that she was pretty good at hiding them, but five? That was just amateurish.

The moment the dagger was in her hand, she went to work on the ropes tied around her hands. She'd honestly been tempted to do it earlier, but she'd been worried that someone might notice. And it wasn't like she could go anywhere with Solas out like a snuffed out candle on the ground beside her. But now, well, that was another story.

The rope was on the ground in less than a minute. Honestly. They should be utterly embarrassed.

"That's better," Cadash said, holding up her now free hands and winking at Solas. "Your turn."

It was a work of seconds to cut through the ropes binding his hands. The moment they hit the ground, Cadash leaned in and pressed a quick kiss to his forehead before she could think better of it. It had been a long day. She thought she deserved at least something in recompense.

It was hard to tell in the dim light, but she was almost certain that Solas was blushing as she pulled away. If only a little.

At least she wasn't the only one.

Solas opened his mouth to say something...

... and, of course, that's when a series of flames and explosions suddenly filled the larger cavern that theirs was off of. Followed almost immediately be a bellow that couldn't have belonged to anyone other than The Iron Bull.

Cadash had to active push back her disappointment for just a second. If she didn't know any better, sometimes she'd swear that their timing was intentional.

"Well, I guess the calvary's here," Cadash said, shooting Solas a half-hearted grin and pushing herself to her feet.

The flicker of disappointment that she thought she saw go dancing across his face was probably just her imagination. She'd let herself pretend otherwise, though, at least for now. If nothing else, it was a nice thought.

It was fine. She'd tell him eventually. It’s not like he was going anywhere. He was one of the few that she trusted to stay with her until the end.

They had all the time in the world. There was no need to hurry.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on Twitter. (https://twitter.com/settiai)


End file.
